Ahh...the fickleness of the K-1 goddess. At last years K-1 GP finals, every dream match that the audience wanted from the first round fight that pitted Le Banner against Aerts went exactly as everyone had hoped for.

This was because the K-1 goddess blessed the drawing and helped pair the fighters in the final tournament.

The unbelievable happened this year again. At the public drawing held to decide the pairing of contestants for the K-1 World GP finals at Fuji Television on October 10th, the cards were again drawn almost as if they had been predetermined by a higher source.

The method used for the drawing was almost the same as last year’s. Each of the winners of the opening block tournaments got a chance to choose their section by drawing a ball with the order written on it. Under this lottery system, each winner was allowed a turn, in keeping with the order that the opening tournaments had been held, starting from the earliest tournament.

Thus, the first fighter to draw a ball was Musashi who had won the July Japan GP. The second was Jerome Le Banner who had won the August Nagoya tournament. Next Ernesto Hoost, Fransisco Filho, Cyril Abidi, Mike Bernardo, Mirko Cro Cop, drew their fates, with Peter Aerts who had been recommended by Master Ishii, being the last.

The matching depended solely on the lot drawn. Who the fighter would be paired off with was decided entirely by the ball that he drew.

After drawing a ball out, the fighter returned to his seat. At this point, each ball was covered with tape so even the person who drew the ball wouldn’t know the order. Later, on cue from the emcee each person peeled back the tape enough to see his order for the first time.

Finally, the moment of truth arrived.

The emcee said, “Will the contestant with ball number one please rise?” and Mirko stood up. Based on the fact that fighting in the first position would allow longer time to rest he went into the B section. Next, Hoost, who’d drawn the second ball, went into section A, next to Mirko, without the slightest hesitation. The faces that were squared off in last year’s GP were suddenly matched.

The third fighter to chose was Filho. He went directly to the second fight C section. The fourth was Abidi and he went into the third fight F section in order to avoid Filho.

That left 4 fighters. Le Banner, Aerts, Musashi and Bernardo. Everyone’s attention was especially focused on whom Le Banner and Aerts would choose.

The emcee said “Will the contestant with ball number five please rise?” and Aerts stood up. His gaze was focused on the E section next to Abidi. His choice of Abidi to whom he’d lost twice in a row roused the audience. A complicated smile appeared on Abidi’s face.

Emotions in the audience reached their high when Le Banner’s turn came.

As if crossing over Filho, Bernardo had taken section G in the fourth fight and everyone was wondering which Le Banner would choose.

Le Banner had been unable to come to Japan due to a traffic accident, however, he was connected to the drawing site by an overseas line and indicated to Master Ishii who was serving as his proxy that he wanted to be next to Filho. The dream card that he’d wanted since the “blow that happens once in a thousand years” as the April Osaka Dome tournament had come his way again. Filho had been knocked out by a single strike in their last match. He said “Thank you Jerome” for giving him a chance for revenge.

The remaining match was set by default, pairing Bernardo and Musashi. This will be the second time the two of them meet in the ring since the 1996 K-1 GP (Bernardo won by decision) and it will be the acid test for Musashi to see how much he’s really developed since then.

With this, all the pairings had been decided and each one had an underlying meaning. All of the first round of fights will be main event level matches. Each will be fought as hard as the final match will – with unparalleled power and energy.

The K-1 goddess has again blessed the fans of the K-1 with a great present that matches the supercharged K-1. With this line up, no one can say who’ll win this year’s crown.